


The Neophyte II: Reborn

by MyExWifeStillMissesMe1



Series: The Neophyte Trilogy [2]
Category: Gravity Falls, The Owl House (Cartoon)
Genre: Crossover, Dipper Pines has PTSD, Dipper really hates King, F/F, Gen, Implied Sexual Content, Original villain - Freeform, Plot focused, Post-Episode: s01e16 Enchanting Grom Fight, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, The Boiling Isles, sequel fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-11
Updated: 2021-02-13
Packaged: 2021-03-10 19:40:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 10,343
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28012545
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MyExWifeStillMissesMe1/pseuds/MyExWifeStillMissesMe1
Summary: After failing to capture Cain, Dipper finds himself in a whole new world. After meeting with an eccentric witch, an old friend, and an old enemy, he finally knows his mission: save the multiverse, again.
Relationships: Dipper Pines & Ford Pines & Mabel Pines & Stan Pines, Dipper Pines & King, Dipper Pines and Amity Blight, Eda Clawthorne & Hooty & King, Eda Clawthorne/Stan Pines, Ford Pines and Lilith Clawthorne, King & Luz Noceda, Luz Noceda & Dipper Pines & Mabel Pines, Luz Noceda & Willow Park & Gus Porter
Series: The Neophyte Trilogy [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2010913
Comments: 3
Kudos: 16





	1. A Bittersweet Reunion

**Author's Note:**

> This work is a direct sequel to The Neophyte, and you absolutely do have to read that to understand what’s going on. Also posted on Fanfiction.net.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dipper comes to know his enemy.

Dipper creaked his eyelids open slowly, groaning. His body felt like it was made of cement. He glanced down, seeing his shirtless body covered in bandages. Wincing, he sat up and looked around. He was sitting on a couch, in a weird room. It looked almost like it was living. He reached down and unwrapped the bandages going round his torso, revealing a brand new scar going across the length of his abdomen. He felt at his right wrist, revealing a small pine tree tattoo on it. He looked around as he got up. _At least whoever helped me didn’t take my trousers off,_ he chuckled to himself. _Ty, you there?_

No response.

Dipper sighed, resolving to think on that matter later. Right now, he needed to figure out where the hell he was.

“Hey, you.”

Dipper spun around quickly, seeing a tall, pale woman with pointy ears staring down at him. She had long, thick grey hair with a light stripe through it and locks that hung in front of her ears. She had dark red lips which complimented her dress, which was a similar colour, but had a golden gem in the middle. Her eyes were as gold as her earrings, and…

Was that a fang poking out of her mouth?

“You should be resting.” Her voice was low and gravelly, it reminded him of Grunkle Stan’s, in a way.

“Who are you exactly?” Dipper asked.

The woman smiled as if she’d been waiting for this moment. She immediately jumped up on a table and announced, “I – dear human traveller – am Eda, The Owl Lady! The most powerful witch on the Boiling Isles, and public enemy number one as well.”

“…okay?” Dipper said in confusion. “I’m Dipper.”

“Huh.” Eda’s face morphed to one of bewilderment for a second, before saying, “well, I once the destroyed the living of a guy named Tibbles, so I shouldn’t be surprised.”

“I take it you’re not human?”

Eda flashed him a wolffish smile. “You’re good. Anyway, what brings you to the Boiling Isles… Danny?”

“Dipper.”

The witch nodded in acknowledgment, jumping off the table. “Come on, sit down.” She led him over to the kitchen table. “I’ll pour you a cup of appleblood. Oh, and take this.” She threw Dipper a bathrobe, with he accepted gladly.

“Thanks.” Dipper quickly pulled the robe around his body and tied the tassel. “So what dimension am I in?”

Eda turned around from the kettle and walked over, handing him a cup of red liquid. She sat down and took a swig of her glass. “You seem very…” she wiped the red liquid off her lips. “Nonchalant about all this.”

Dipper chuckled, “you think this is the first time I’ve been thrown into another dimension?”

“…yes?” Eda said, shocked. Then she smiled and pointed at him. “You’re from Gravity Falls, aren’t you?”

Dipper’s eyes widened, and his head perked up. “How did you know that?”

“Pretty easy kid.” Eda quipped. “You’re human, and you know of magic. It stands to reason that you _must_ be from there. Unless the whole dimension has had some sort of ‘awakening,’ but that seems unlikely.”

“Nope, it came pretty close though.” Dipper raised the glass up to his mouth and took a sip, almost gagging at how bad it tasted. He held it down, knowing that he’d eaten much worse stuff in his time. He didn’t want to be rude.

“Not even gonna ask.”

“So,” Dipper placed his glass down on the table, the taste of appleblood still stuck in his mouth. “Now that I’m awake, can you send me home?”

Eda bit her lip and winced, leaning forward in her chair. “Sorry kid, but no.”

“What?” Dipper shouted, jumping up. “Why?”

“Hold your horses Daryl.”

“Dipper, just say Dipper,” he said, sitting down again.

“Dipper, sorry,” Eda apologised. “Think about it like this: Earth and Arlas are—”

“Arlas?” Dipper questioned.

“Yep. We’re in the Boiling Isles, but the dimension is called Arlas. Anyhow, Arlas and Earth are connected by magical shortcuts that can only be activated by something or someone inherently magical.” Eda placed both hands on the back of her head and swung on her chair. “Which means you aren’t human.”

 _The zodiac…_ Dipper thought. He and Ford had long suspected that the members of the zodiac weren’t quite human, but to hear it confirmed was still jarring. “Huh.”

“I have a door that can take you from one world to another, but because of the rotation of each of our planets, the location is impossible to predict. It takes an unholy amount of energy to send the door to a non-magical area, and I used it earlier this month. If we end up outside Gravity Falls, we will be trapped on Earth forever, as the door wouldn’t be able to get past the barrier.”

Dipper contemplated this for a moment, before inquiring, “what about the shortcuts? Surely there’s one that could take me back to Earth? Or I could just go back through the one I came through.”

“The shortcuts are one-way, and I only know where one is: in the emperor’s castle, guarded by literally _all_ the guards, and my sister, probably.”

“I know a thing or two about sisters,” Dipper admitted.

“Yeah, they can be annoying. But… at the end of the day I still care about Lily, ‘ya know?”

This gave Dipper pause. Maybe he’d been too harsh on Mabel, she hadn’t meant to do anything wrong. But then, her selfishness had been the cause of lots of their problems. She’d nearly let him get killed over a puppet show, nearly got him and Wendy killed when she locked him in with the shapeshifter and forced him to reveal his feelings about Wendy (whilst it had worked out in the long run, he’d rather have told Wendy of his own volition).

“Yeah, maybe…” Dipper muttered.

Eda took another gulp of her drink, before setting the now empty glass on the table. “You gonna drink that?” She pointed at Dipper’s cup. After Dipper shook his head, she leaned over and took it from him. “So does anything specific bring you here, or did you just fall through a shortcut by accident?”

“I was trying to prevent the end of the world,” Dipper stated bluntly.

Eda’s eyes widened as she spat her drink out. “Now that’s spit take worthy!” She wiped her lip and fang. “Come on, tell me a bit about it. ‘Ya never know, maybe I could help.”

Dipper bit his lip and frowned. “I had a vision. Of the future, when the world ended.”

“Sounds like you’re just a whack job,” Eda commented. “It’s probably just a dream.”

“That’s what I thought, until it started coming true.”

Eda looked surprised, and intrigued. “Go on.”

“Do you know who the Man in Black is?”

Eda’s expression darkened. She lost her grip on her glass, causing it to drop to the floor and smash. Her lips were pursed, and her eyes squinted. She stood up suddenly, her chair falling back and clattering to the floor. The sound echoed throughout the Owl House’s walls, enhanced by the fact that nothing else could be heard. Eda’s teeth gritted audibly, before she growled, “come with me.”

As Dipper was lead through the house, he noted how it felt… alive, almost. Most of the walls were painted tan, reminding him of his home back in Piedmont. He sighed. He loved the Mystery Shack and all… but he missed the place. Going back there for Christmas had been a punch in the gut for him; he’d left soon after the celebrations were over. It had made him rethink his choice to stay with Ford, and whilst he ultimately decided that he made the right call, he still regretted it sometimes. He watched as Eda pulled a book from a dusty trunk, before blowing on it. The dust flew away, hitting the ageing witch in the face. She coughed, scanning the pages, before slamming it shut.

“Your friend is a force to be reckoned with,” she stated. “His name is Cain Pryce, he came here centuries ago to study magic. He specialised in illusion spells, until he was cursed.” As the said the last part, she paled a little, and Dipper swore he could see her eyes dim. But it was gone as soon as it appeared. “The curse was supposed to cut off his magical abilities, but something went wrong. His magic was boosted, and concentrated into one single spell. He can use it to copy himself onto people, and he’s powerful enough to do this to literally everyone at once. It’s also the only spell he can do, and the only way to dispel the it is to cut him off from his clones.”

“So what happened after he went mad?” Dipper asked.

“He tried to take over Arlas, and very nearly succeeded. Eventually, someone managed to petrify him; it broke the spell and everyone under his control was freed. We banished the statue to Earth, in hopes that if he somehow broke free, he would be your problem and not ours. We didn’t know about the zodiac at that point.”

“Is petrification supposed to be permanent?”

“Yeah, I have absolutely _no_ idea how he broke free.”

Dipper’s eyebrows shot up. “Weirdmageddon…”

“Weirdma – what now?”

“Weirdmageddon,” Dipper repeated, now he himself paling. “The end of the world. It happened last year, but we stopped it.”

Eda gasped, her golden eyes glimmering. “That’s how you got through. You’re not human at all, you’re a Zodicai!”

Dipper pursed his lips and squinted. _So that’s what species I am,_ he thought, glad to finally have a name for it. _But that’s impossible, wouldn’t scientists have realised that by now? Wait, no, there’s only ten of us._ “So I’m not human then?”

“No, you’re Dipper Pines, one of ten prophesied to join together to defeat Bill Cipher.”

The words rang through Dipper’s mind. If he had a destiny, had he ever had free will? He wasn’t human, he literally wasn’t human. Was his personality specially engineered to make sure he ended up in Gravity Falls?

“Oh…” he murmured, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly.

Eda raised her eyebrows, her expression softening. “Hey, that just means you’re special.”

“Yeah right,” Dipper snarked.

“Hey Eda!”

Dipper – who had been slouching this whole time – jolted upright, his eyes growing to the size of tennis balls. He heard that voice every night, in his dreams.

But this was the first time heard it in person since Weirdmageddon. _IT’S A DEAL!_ The final words he heard Bill say rang through his head as he turned around, expecting a triangle in a top hat. What he saw was much less intimidating. Bill’s new body was covered in a navy fur, on his head a pale white skull. Whilst his sclera were a familiar yellow, his irises were a pink-ish purple. He had two horns sticking out of his head (although one was broken) and wore a red collar round his neck. If he didn’t have Bill’s voice, he’d actually be quite adorable. Without a second’s hesitation he jumped at his old nemesis, tackling him to the floor and attacking him relentlessly.

“Kid!” Eda shouted. “Get ‘offa him!”

“Dipper stop!”

Dipper glanced up, seeing a girl with a brown-purple pixie cut and bronze skin standing in the doorway. She was breathing heavily, her eyes filled with fear. He squinted, “Luz?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello once again! I hope you enjoyed this chapter. The Owl House cast are going to be incredibly important moving forward, but this doesn’t build off that show’s plot (as it doesn’t have much of one right now). And in case you’re wondering, this takes place after Enchanting Grom Fight, but before Wing it like Witches.


	2. Now is Not the End

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ford has a chat with a witch.

Mud squelched under Ford’s feet as he walked up the rise, Dipper following close behind. He felt in his coat pocket for the bag of jellybeans, sitting down on a dry patch of grass.

“What was it you wanted to show me?” Dipper asked, he too sitting down.

Ford glanced at the boy out of the corner of his eye. “I spent a fair margin of my time in the Falls pondering over one simple question.” Dipper raised an eyebrow as if to say ‘go on.’ Ford smiled, then elaborated, “where did it all come from? I had multiple theories, but none held up. Bill—” he paused, watching his nephew pale slightly. He waited for the colour to return to his face, before continuing—“ _He_ told me that the weirdness was caused by another dimension leaking into ours.”

Dipper’s eyes lit up in excitement. “Really?”

“No, it was complete hogwash,” Ford deadpanned. Dipper made a sad face for a moment, before morphing back to one of intrigue. “The truth is far simpler.” Ford pulled the bag of jellybeans from his pocket, opening it up. He pulled a handful of beans out and handed one to Dipper, who looked at it as if he’d just been handed a million dollars.

“What do I do with it?” He asked. “Is it part of some sort of scientific experiment, or—”

“No,” Ford cut him off. “ _These_ are for experimenting with. I just gave you that one for you to eat.” Dipper made a muffled ‘huh’ sound, before popping the jellybean into his mouth and chewing on it. “Everything in this universe – this multiverse – is like a jellybean,” Ford said, holding his hand out. “Made of the same basic materials, varied in colour or flavour, but all more or less conforming to an expected pattern. But every now and and again – just by chance – a bean comes out deformed—”

Dipper looked hurt, and Ford cursed himself. _Deformed?_ he shouted internally. _That’s the best you could come up with? You know how horrible it is to be called that, he probably does too, you chump!_ He sighed, “odd… weird.” Dipper’s face relaxed slightly. Ford smirked as he pulled a particularly strange bean out from the bag. He showed it to Dipper, then dropped both it and the remaining contents of the bag to his feet. The beans began to tumble downhill, but one bean – the deformed one – magically soared upwards, _up_ the hill, right to the town border.

Dipper’s eyes widened in shock, he was clearly beginning to understand.

“Gravity Falls is a weirdness magnet,” Ford explained. “Oddness is strangely, mysteriously drawn to this place, from misshapen jellybeans, to gnomes and fairies, to dinosaurs. Stuff like inter dimensional tears, clones, crazy ex-presidents, even men with six fingers and boys with strange birthmarks.” Dipper smiled happily at the last comment, Ford returning the favour. “I felt it in my bones that my arrival in this town – and perhaps yours too – was no accident. Perhaps we’re part of some greater fate the town has in store for us.” He glanced at Dipper’s hat uncomfortably, he was definitely part of the zodiac. That’ if it wasn’t some trick from Bill or some crazy coincidence.

“You and I are some of the strangest beans this town has ever seen, Dipper,” Ford told him.

“Mason,” Dipper blurted out. He seemed shocked

Ford’s eyebrow lifted in surprise. _What do I say to this? What does he even mean, is it a question? A statement? I should probably just smile and nod and pretend to know what he’s going on about._ But before Ford could get a chance to start acting, Dipper repeated himself.

“My real name is Mason. Dipper is just a nickname, but everyone got used to it, and now it feels too late to tell everyone the truth. And it’s kind of a dumb name anyway, don’t tell anyone.”

Ford smiled and affectionately tousled Dipper’s hair. “You’re secret’s safe with me, Mason. And I think it’s a great name. The Masons are a great secret society, you know.”

Dipper smiled brightly as he leaned his head onto Ford’s side.

* * *

Ford pushed the memory away, bowing his head. The basement was eerily silent. Usually he’d hear one of the machines whirring, maybe Dipper writing in his journal, or some kind of creature they caught together. He sighed blearily.

This was all his fault.

He cared about Dipper a great deal, more than most people realised. And now he could be dead. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the framed picture of the twins o his desk. He grabbed it, staring at it until a tear dropped onto it.

“Ford.”

He turned around to see Stan standing there, arms folded. His posture was slouched; his eyelids sliding down his eyes. “The witch is up.” His words were slurred and low, he was clearly about to pass out. “I’m gonna keep looking for ‘im.”

“Stanley, I’ll go look for him.” Ford said as he got up. “You look wrecked.”

“The hangover probably isn’t helping,” Stan admitted. Ever since Dipper disappeared he’d been drinking alcohol much more than usual. “You’re not going. You gotta deal with tha’ witch.”

Ford sighed, “okay. But you get some rest.” He pointed at Stan.

Stan held his hands up in frustration. “Alright mum.”

“Stanley, I’m serious. Go to bed, you look awful.”

“Eh, well…” Stan sputtered. “Your face is ugly!”

Ford opened his mouth to respond, but decided on just staring at his twin in disappointment.

“Oh, right,” Stan realised.

Ford sighed in exasperation as he placed the photo back on his desk carefully, then walked over to the prison cell. He wiped some dust off the number pad, then typed the code in. _0618_. The door swung open, revealing the witch sitting at a desk in shackles. He took a moment to take in her appearance; her skin was pale white, her eyes a pale green and her long hair as blue as the night sky. She wore a back gown with a diamond gem on her chest, and her lips were covered in black lipstick.

“I know you’ll try some magic to get out of your shackles,” he said, sitting down at the chair opposite her. “But they’re designed to repress magic. So good luck.”

The woman pursed her lips and lifted her chin, looking at him with a disapproving glare. “Trust me, Pines, I’ve tried.”

Ford’s eyes widened for a split second, but he hid his surprise effectively. “You know me?”

“Yes.” The witch smirked. “Your name is Dr Stanford Pines, PhD.”

“Well—” he adjusted his position on his seat— “you might know me, but I don’t know you.”

“Lilith Clawthorne,” the witch smiled. “Resident of the Boiling Isles.”

 _Boiling Isles…_ The words rang through Ford’s head. He’d heard of that place before, but hadn’t been there. “So, Lilith.” He suddenly reached over the table and grabbed her by the collar. Lilith yelped in surprise, before returning to her usual calm demeanour. “What did you do with Dipper?”

“Who?”

“Dipper Pines, my great-nephew. He disappeared two days ago.”

Lilith glared at her captor. “I don’t know who that is.”

“You took him.”

“No, I didn’t! I swear!”

Ford let out a pained sigh, letting Lilith go. “How do you know me?”

“I had a vision of the future.”

“Yes, I’m so convinced.” Lilith frowned at his sarcasm, to which Ford reluctantly sighed, “go on.”

“I saw myself fighting hundreds of identical men in the emperor’s castle.”

Ford tilted his head in confusion.

“Emperor Belos. He rules Arlas.”

 _Arlas,_ Ford thought. _That’s what the dimension is called._

“There was also me talking to you, that’s how I know your name.”

“Let me guess,” Ford leaned back in his seat. “You need my help.”

“The fate of multiverse is at stake, Stanford,” Lilith deadpanned.

Ford’s expression darkened; ever since Weirdmageddon he’d sworn to take every plausible threat to the world seriously. “And?”

“I did some research. The man from my vision is called Cain Pryce, he was a plague on the Isles centuries ago. He copies himself onto others, like a virus.”

“Why does he want to do this?” Ford asked.

“I don’t know. My best guess is that he’s insane. I tried to get the emperor to help me, but he couldn’t see reason. I had to sacrifice a lot to get here.”

“So did I, like my hand.”

Lilith’s expression changed to one of sympathy. “I’m terribly sorry,” she said. “I didn’t realise it was you and I acted on instinct. I thought you were trying to stop me.”

“That makes me feel _so_ much better,” Ford deadpanned. He reached into his pocket and pulled his phone out, unlocking it and showing Lilith his screensaver. It was a picture of Ford, Stan, Dipper, Mabel, Wendy and Soos posing for a photo. It was at taken at the end of the summer. He pointed at Dipper in desperation. “This is Dipper, tell me you saw him in the vision.”

Lilith squinted, looking at the phone. “You will be reunited, at some point. But only if you help me.”

“Fine.”

* * *

Stan jolted in surprise as Ford burst through the vending machine. “We’re going into the multiverse.”

“But way at about Dipper?”

“Soos and Wendy will keep looking,” Ford responded. “Get Mabel, I need some help rebuilding the portal.”


	3. Two Apprentices, a Witch and a Demon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> King has an epiphany whilst Luz is briefed on what’s at stake.

“Luz?” Dipper said in confusion.

“Dipper, I know this is all new to you, but… please. Let King go.”

Dipper’s hands clutched around King’s throat, realisation dawning on his face. “He’s tricked you, hasn’t he? Just like he tricked me.”

“What – no!” Luz shouted in disbelief.

“Hold up a sec.” Eda looked between the two humans (well, one human technically). “You two _know_ each other?”

Luz responded, “yeah, we played D,DnmD together in middle school.” She shot a death glare at Dipper. “Until he went to some place in Oregon for the summer, then vanished off the face of the Earth.”

“Yeah,” Dipper said, his hands tightening. “After I saved said world, you’re welcome.”

“Is now really the time to be discussing this!?” King shouted, his voice rasping.

“Dipper,” Luz breathed. “He’s not going to hurt you.”

Dipper gritted his teeth. Bill was back. Bill was alive, in the flesh. And he’d tricked his friend. On one hand, he trusted Luz. On the other, he had the chance to prevent the second coming of Weirdmageddon. But what if Luz was right, and this thing was her friend? She’d never talk to him again. Then he remembered something Luz had said during a game of D,DnmD once:

 _A friend of a friend is friend of mine!_ She’d said it in response to Dipper bringing someone from science class along to play. He closed his eyes and bit his lip.

 _Welp,_ he thought. _This is probably the dumbest thing I’ve ever done._ He pulled his hands away from Bill’s throat, the creature gasping for air. Bill quickly ran over to Eda and jumped into her hair, using in it.

“Get that throat-snatcher out of this house!” he shouted.

“No,” Luz cautioned. “He’s my friend.”

“Kid, you can stay if you promise not to try and/or succeed in murdering King,” Eda sighed. “And this is only because it’s an end of the world situation.”

Dipper stood up, his hands shaking. He looked like he was high on drugs. “Okay.” He gave the witch a glare. “But only if he stays away from me.”

Eda grimaced. “Fine.”

“So it’s settled then.” Dipper took a deep breath and walked out of the room, bathrobe flapping behind him.

_Hi Dipper._

_Ty?_ Dipper asked.

_Yeah, coming into the physical dimension was tiring._

Dipper thought for a moment, before saying, _what happens if you leave?_

_Forcefully leaving will kill us both. The only way I can get out is through death._

“Huh,” Dipper muttered.

Dipper was a lot different than Luz remembered. He still seemed like a quiet nerd, but he was more confident now. He was taller, and a fair bit bulkier (she’d counted eight abs) than he used to be. She also noted how many scars he had; there were the obvious ones on his face and jaw, but his torso area was pretty banged up too. How Dipper knew about the supernatural at all was weird, and he obviously had some sort of history with King. But the weirdest part was that when he threatened King, he didn’t look angry, he looked terrified. She looked over to Eda.

“What was all that about?” she asked.

“Your friend came here to save the multiverse, and as for the King situation… I have no idea.” She pulled the quivering King out of her hair and stroked his back.

“Wait, what? The end of the world is coming?”

“Yeah, I guess we have to get him back to Earth.”

Luz breathed heavily. She opened her mouth to speak, but decided against it. The last time she’d seen Dipper was right before last summer. She needed to make a good impression. “Okay,” she said, walking out of the room. She made her way to her room, lost in thought. She walked through the door and yelped. Dipper was standing there, pulling a navy button-up shirt over his torso. Some sort of wheel with a triangle in the centre was tattooed across his back, but she only caught a glimpse before he pulled the shirt over his shoulders.

“Oh,” he said, his eyes widening. “Hi Luz.”

Luz gulped, “hi.” She took a pause. “What was all that about?”

“It’s… I-it’s nothing.”

“Dipper, King is my friend. I trust him.

Dipper glared at her with a serious expression. “So did I.”

“OH, I’M HERE,” Bill laughed with glee. “I’M FINALLY HERE!” He glanced around Sixer’s mindscape, a rickety wooden door the only thing in sight. He began floating towards it. “LOOK AT THIS PLACE! A PERFECT, CALM, ORDERLY VOID. GOTTA HAND IT TO ‘YA FORD, YOU REALLY KNOW HOW TO CLEAN YOUR—” he pulled the door open, and instead of seeing Ford, he saw Fez sitting on his recliner, batting a paddleball. Fez looked at him with a smug grin on his face and made a clicking sound, before pointing a finger gun at the dream demon.

“WHAT!?”

Fez chuckled, “do a pretty good impression of my brother don’t I? Switch clothes and no one can tell us apart. Welcome to my mind!” He gestured around. “Surprised you didn’t recognise it.”

“WHAT?” Bill shouted. “THE DEAL’S OFF!” He turned to leave, but the door shut and burst into blue flames. “WHAT THE… NO, NO, NO, NO!”

“Oh yeah, you’re going down Bill,” Fez said, tapping his temple. “Memory gun. Pretty clever, huh?”

“Y-YOU IDIOT!” Bill spluttered. “DON’T YOU REALISE YOU’RE DESTROYING YOUR OWN MIND TOO?”

Fez shrugged. “It’s not like I was usin’ this space for much anyway.” The flames had fully engulfed the walls by this point, and were slowly burning through the carpet.

“LET ME ‘OUTTA HERE! LET ME OUT!” Bill stuck his hand out and produced his signature frame, but it fizzled out all too quickly. “WHY ISN’T THIS WORKING?”

“Hey.” Fez stood up to his full height, it was odd seeing him without his signature slouch. “Look at me. Turn around and look at me ‘ya one eyed demon!” Bill turned to face Fez slowly, his eye widened with worry. “You’re a real wise guy—” Fez raised his arm and pointed at him accusingly—“but ‘ya made one fatal mistake: ‘ya messed with my family!”

“YOU’RE MAKING A MISTAKE! I’LL GIVE YOU ANYTHING!” Bill pleaded. “MONEY, FAME, RICHES, INFINITE POWER, YOUR OWN GALAXY, PLEASE!” His body suddenly began to morph between his many forms, tv static covering his face. “NO! WHAT’S HAPPENING TO ME?!” he screamed, flashing between various distorted forms. “Nruter yam I taht rewop tneicna eht ekovni i! Nrub ot emoc sah emit ym! L-T-O-L-O-X-A!” He reached out and uttered his final words, “STAAAAANNNNLLLLEEEEEEYYYYY!”

The last thing Bill Cipher saw was Stan Pines’ fist hurtling towards his face, before he disintegrated into atoms.

King jolted awake, blinking rapidly. That was an odd dream. He thought nothing of it before returning to his position on the bottom of Luz’s bed and falling asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello once more! Sorry for the shorter chapter, they should get longer as time goes on. Anyway, there’ll probably be one more update in 2020, two at a stretch. So wear your mask, and celebrate this awful year beginning to come to a close. Also, the new episode of the Mandalorian was so good, so sad.


	4. Nightmare in Owl Manor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dipper faces his fears.

“Amity!” Edric shouted, banging on the door. ‘Don’t you need to go?”

“Yeah, to go see your—” Emira cleared her throat—“GIRLFR—”

“SHUT IT!” Amity yelled, opening the door and running out. She grabbed her backpack from her desk, it’s contents spilling out as she desperately tried to zip it shut.

“Ohhh!” Edric smiled devilishly, picking up a pink scrap of paper from the floor. “You gonna tell her?” He passed the note to his twin, who widened her eyes and smirked.

“What?” Amity spluttered. “No!” She frowned as both her siblings began holding in fits of laughter, which only resulted in them looking like they were constipated. “Okay, fine. Yes, I’m going to tell her.”

Emira raised her eyebrow in disapproval. “Your confidence isn’t very inspiring.”

“Why?”

“Well,” Edric sneered. “You talk the talk, but you will never go through with it. Just let us do it for you, it’ll be better, because all that confidence is fake.”

Amity snatched the note off of Emira and glared at Edric. “N-no it’s not!”

“Yes it is.”

“No it’s not!” Amity shouted as she turned and ran down the stairs. “And I’ll prove it to you!”

Emira looked at her brother and raised her fist up. “Step one is done.” Edric bumped his fist against hers.

“What’s step two again?”

“Sit down and let mittens’ pride do the rest of the work.”

Edric thought for a moment, before saying, “or we could go help her like normal people.”

“Nah,” they said in unison.

* * *

Amity glanced at her watch as she rushed down the street, she didn’t want to be late. She internally thanked the twins for helping her do this; their parents were under the impression that she was at Boscha’s house for a sleepover. This was half true. She was going for a sleepover, but not with Boscha (thank god).

I can’t believe I used to be friends with her, she thought. She rounded the last corner and quickly made her way up the rise. Willow and Gus were standing outside the Owl House, chatting to Luz and…

Another human?

“Amity!” Luz shouted, running up to her. “I’m so glad you made it.” She quickly reached over and took her bag, buckling under the weight. “What do you have in here?” she croaked.

“… stuff.” She glanced over at the new guy, taking his appearance in. He was well built, but not too bulky. He wore a navy button up shirt and a dark leather jacket, with black walking trousers and boots. His face was scarred, and he had the biggest brown eyes. His hair was thick and messy on the top, but thin on the sides.

“Hi,” the boy said, walking towards her. “I’m Dipper.”

That’s an odd name, even for this dimension’s standards, Amity noted. “Amity,” she smiled, reaching out a hand for him to shake. “Amity Blight.”

Dipper’s face paled for a moment, before he raised his hands in defence. “I don’t do handshakes.”

“Okay,” Amity frowned and retracted her hand. “So how’d you end up here?”

Dipper raised his eyebrows and smirked. “Long story short, I was trying to prevent the end of the world and ended up here.”

“I thought Earth didn’t have magic?”

“Just not much of it.”

“Huh.”

“Guys?” Willow interjected, suddenly appearing next to them. “We’re due for boiling rain in about a minute, so I’d recommend coming inside unless you want to be melted.”

“Okay,” Dipper nodded.

* * *

“Come on, come on…” Gus pleaded as the dice rolled across the necronomiconopoly board. “Yes!” he shouted. “I would like to buy… this space.” He reached over to his stash and handed Dipper $200 worth of game money. “And since rolled a six, I get to roll again.”

“Boo!” Willow joked.

“Aw, why do you have to be so good at this?” Luz pouted.

Dipper looked up from his notepad that he was planning his strategy on. “Maybe he’s just good at math.”

“Yeah, you would know.” Amity crossed her arms and refocused on the board. “You’ve been steamrolling all of us.”

Dipper raised his eyebrow, not looking up from his notepad. “Maybe I’m just good at math.”

“Luz!” Hooty shouted, poking his head through the window. Amity grimaced, and Dipper wrinkled his nose up in disgust. “It’s like, five in the morning! Eda says you all have to go to bed!”

“Oh, boo!” they all shouted in unison.

Gus yawned, “he’s probably right though.”

“Yeah, probably,” Willow conceded.

* * *

Amity creaked her eyes open slowly. She sat up and looked around, taking it in. She was on an island with bright, golden sand and tall palm trees. She glanced over and saw Luz too getting up, as were Willow, Gus and Dipper.

“Where are we?” she asked.

Dipper picked up a pile of sand and let it fall through his fingers, frowning. “I think…” He walked over to a tree and kicked it, jumping out of the way when a coconut fell onto the sand. “Yep. We’re in a dream.”

“Okay,” Luz said. “So who’s casting the spell?”

When no one responded, Dipper presented his own theory. “Maybe the spell caster isn’t doing this deliberately.”

“Magic can act up when a witch is stressed,” Willow interjected. “Who’s been having a bad day?”

“It’s not me,” Dipper said, digging at the sand. “I know it seems like it, but I’m not a witch and this is pretty normal for me.”

Luz quickly kicked a clump of sand at him. “I need runes to use magic. It’s not me.”

“So,” Gus said. “It’s either me,” he gestured at himself, then to Willow. “Or Willow.” He pointed at Amity. “Or Amity.” He raised his eyebrow for a moment, before he and everyone else – bar Dipper – looked at Amity.

“Oh, come on!” Amity shouted. “Why would it be me?”

“Dipper, look at this!” Luz called from a few metres away.

Willow walked towards Amity and leaned in close. “Because of your crush on Luz,” she whispered.

Amity’s eyes widened, her cheeks turning red. “My crush – crush on who? Who’s Amity?”

“It’s reeeaallly obvious,” Gus stated.

Amity sighed, “how long have you known?”

“Since Grom,” Willow said.

“Oh my – first the twins know, now you two?”

“Eda knows too,” Gus interjected.

“You told her!?”

“No, she just figured it out.”

“Alright,” Dipper said, walking past the trio with his hands held behind his back. “We’re in some sort of shared mindscape. I reckon that the only way out is through there.” He pointed at a black hole that had suddenly appeared in the sand.

“Why would we go down there?” Luz asked.

“Because dark, ominous holes usually lead to bad things or people, and things like this are caused by bad people.”

“Meh,” Luz said, grabbing both Dipper and Amity’s arms and jumping down the hole.

Gus looked over as the hole sealed back up, then back to Willow. “Uh oh.”

* * *

Luz landed on the ground hard, grunting as she did.

“Ow,” she muttered. “Is everyone okay?”

Dipper grimaced, “yeah. I’ve been through worse.”

Luz sighed, wondering just how much worse her friend had endured. His scars certainly told a story, although he refused to tell her what said story was. Maybe he got them when he saved the world. Right before he abandoned me, Luz said to herself. All by myself, no friends, no nothing.

“I’m fine too,” Amity said. “Hey, where are Willow and Gus?”

“THEY ARE TRAPPED!” a loud, gravelly voice said, the sky glowing as it spoke. “As are you.”

“Who are you?” Dipper asked.

“I am your consciences combined, I am your greatest fears, your greatest nightmare—“

“Yeah yeah yeah,” Dipper nagged. “Just get to the point already.”

The sky sighed, and glowed once more. “Just go through the cave and face your number one worst memory, then I’ll let you and those other two go.”

Dipper grimaced, knowing precisely what memory he would see. Although, there were certainly a few contenders. He opened his mouth to speak, but Luz got there first.

“Is there any other way?” she asked.

“NO!” The sky was suddenly covered in clouds, thunder and lightning bellowing in the distance.

Luz’s expression darkened, the weather perfectly accenting her purposefully dramatic aura. “Then so be it,” she said with conviction.

The three walked into the cave slowly, Dipper instinctively taking up the lead. Amity walked behind him, with Luz behind her (as she was probably the weakest of the three). Dipper reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a flashlight, turning it on and illuminating the area. The cave wall held three doors: the first had a small purple cat’s head adorning it’s arch, the middle a blue pine tree and the third a green bottle of hair dye.

“What do those symbols mean?” Amity asked.

Dipper pointed at the middle door. “I’m the pine tree.”

“How do you know that?”

Dipper gave the witch a small glance out of the corner of his eye. “Long story. Luz, that symbol looks like your hoodie.”

“Oh yeah,” Luz said, forever impressed at her friend’s observational skills. “But that means that—“ a smug smile dawned on her face as she looked at Amity—“do you dye your hair?

Amity’s cheeks Immediately flashed bright red, and she stammered, “What? No, I mean… maybe.”

“So, I reckon we should go from left to right,” Luz said.

Dipper paled slightly, before suggesting, “How about we go from the edges to the middle?”

Luz looked confused for a second, before conceding, “okay.” She walked towards her door, grabbed the handle and pulled it open. She felt an urge to try shut her eyes, but a strange force commanded her to look. Dipper and Amity looked on from behind her as the door showed her arguing with her mother Camilla. Luz slammed the door shut, closing her eyes and placing a hand on the door.

Too alleviate the situation, Dipper took charge and ran to his door, pulling it open and preparing for the worst. As it turned out, he had a lot of worst memories all tied for first place, so it just showed them all. First it showed Dipper trying to save Ford from Bill at the start of Weirdmageddon, then the shapeshifter’s last words. It showed Bill toying with him and Mabel and coming so close to killing her. It showed his time living in Weirdmageddon and finally, the possession. By the end, Dipper was in tears, Amity and Luz sharing worried glances.

The sky’s voice echoed through the cave, “I feel pity for you, child. Be free.”

The three watched as they glowed bright blue, before disappearing entirely.

In the end, Amity never did end up telling Luz about her crush. She would do it one day, but that day was not the day.

* * *

Edric yawned as she walked down the stairs, chatting to Emira. “Who would win,” he asked. “Between—” he cut himself off upon walking into three living room, his eyes widening. What he saw was a man in a jet black cassock standing in the middle of the room, two men identical to him flanking him.

“Hello,” the man said, his voice almost soothing. “You might be wondering where your parents are.”

“Yeah, kinda” Emira said.

“They’re right here,” the man smiled. “They are me. As will you be.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed this chapter, as it will be the last for a while. I won’t start working on the next one until a little into the new year, so this story is currently taking a break.


	5. The Futurist

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Secrets and lies are revealed when Eda takes action.

“I haven’t seen Amity since…” Luz placed a glass of water on the tabletop, which Dipper gladly took. “Since the sleepover.” She elected not to mention what happened during the sleepover, for Dipper’s sake.

“Good,” Eda snapped. “That Blight brat is nothing but trouble.” She suddenly chuckled, “heh. Blight brat. Blight brat’s a blight on my… bright morning? Eh, I dunno. But take my word for it kid: if that girl’s anything like her mother, then she’s a psycho bitch who has absolutely _no_ redeeming qualities.”

“Well she’s clearly not then,” Luz said defiantly. “She’s my friend.”

It was then Dipper chose to interject, “I dunno, she seemed nice enough.” He took another sip of his water before glancing back up to see both Eda and Luz giving him what Mabel would call ‘the look of death.’ “I have to go now for… reasons.”

Eda looked back at Luz, ready to continue arguing, but stopped as her crystal ball began ringing from somewhere in the house.

“EEEEEEEEDDDDDDDDAAAAAAAA!” King screamed as he ran into the room, clutching the ball. He held it at arm’s length, almost as if he was afraid to touch it. “The science kid threatened to kill me again. Also here’s your ball.”

“Tell your friend to stop threatening King,” Eda remarked, before turning round and making her way out of the room. “I don’t care what Bill did to him, ‘cos that particular demon doesn’t live in this house.”

Luz knitted her brows together in frustration, before coming to a conclusion. She looked at King and smiled, “We’re going to look for Amity.”

“Not if the freak is going, I—”

“King, he’s not coming. Also, his name is Dipper.”

King huffed, “I’ll start calling him that when he stops calling me Bill.”

Eda rubbed her nightgown sleeve on the ball, polishing it. She tapped the green circle that had appeared on it’s screen, causing a hooded figure to appear.

“Who are you?” she asked, her brows arching downward with suspicion. Never trust a witch in a weird bathrobe.

“That you cannot know.” The figure – now revealed to be a woman – responded. “What you can know is that I will be meeting you at this address later today.” She held a sticky note with an address written on it up to her ball, which Eda quickly noted down. “I have some information that could be vital to your quest.”

“Quest?” Eda asked. “What quest?”

“The one where you save the multiverse from Cain. Be there by four, on the dot.” And with that, the woman hung up, leaving Eda speechless. She could handle anything any old hag could throw at her, right? Maybe she should go, it could save the multiverse.

* * *

 _He’s not Bill,_ Dipper told himself as he pushed the door open, into the room he shared with Luz. _Bill’s dead, right? Right. But what if he’s not? What if it is him, I can’t just kill him. Luz would be crushed, she’d hate me._

_You shouldn’t do it._

Dipper jolted upright at the sound of the voice in his head. “You startled me,” he uttered.

 _I know, I’m inside your brain, remember?_ Tyrone audibly sighed, before continuing. _You can’t kill King. I can literally feel what you’re going through, but it’s not worth it._

“You know, it’s kind of annoying you perving on my thoughts all the time.”

_I can’t help it Dipper._

“Can I not have five minutes to myself?” Dipper asked. He could feel Ty growing angrier.

_Then I’ll just go somewhere else in the mindscape._

“Wait—” Dipper cut himself off after feeling Tyrone leave. It was futile.

Eda’s eyes flicked around the street as she made her way to the meeting point. She was wearing her brown cloak over her normal clothes to hide her identity, she couldn’t afford to get caught by Lilith. She walked down a back alley and pushed through a gate into a fenced-off courtyard. In the centre, there was a bench with a woman sat at it.

“Who are you?” she asked.

The woman raised her hand, beckoning the fellow witch over. Eda complied, and rested her staff against the armrest. She sat down as the other woman removed her hood. The woman had dark skin and black hair, her robe a similar colour.

“Edalyn, I’m so glad you came,” the woman said. “My name is Sybil.”

Eda’s eyes widened, and her mouth forced into a smirk. “Sybil, as in the—”

Sybil cut her off—“leader of the oracle coven? Yep. Your friend is quite familiar with me, although he doesn’t know it.” She smiled and lifted a mug of coffee up to her mouth.

Eda’s head tilted in confusion. “Luz?”

“No.”

Eda opened her mouth to speak again, but was cut off by Sybil. “King? That’s who you’re supposed to ask about next. Then you say, ‘what about Lily?’ and I say no to both of them.

Eda’s mouth opened and closed in confusion as Sybil continued to drink her coffee. “Oracle coven. Leader. Me,” she joked.

Eda raised her eyebrows in understanding, before asking, “It’s that Pines kid isn’t it?”

“Bingo.” Sybil placed her mug on the concrete below, then smiled devilishly. “I saw the future and made sure he got the push. With some help, I managed to send him a message.”

“His vision…” Eda muttered. “That was you?”

“Indeed,” Sybil clarified. “I also sent one to your sister.”

“Lily? What’s she got to do with this?”

Sybil sighed softly and leaned back on the bench. “Lilith Clawthorne is a fiercely independent woman. One that needs to learn to accept help from others.” When a look of sorrow crossed Eda’s face, Sybil reassured her, “Don’t worry. You’ll be seeing her sooner than you think.”

Eda glanced away, taking in her surroundings quickly. “What do you mean by—” when she looked back, Sybil and her coffee were gone—“that…” Eda looked around, trying to pinpoint where the woman had went, but to no avail. “What the hell did she mean by that?”

“I might be able to help you with that.”

Eda whipped around to the source of the voice, and stifled her gasp.

Cain was here.

* * *

King was annoyed. Annoyed and confused. First Luz’s human friend showed up to the house. Then he tried to kill him and claimed that he was a demon!

And then the dream. Oh god, the dream. Why did it have to happen right after the science nerd claimed he was a demon? Maybe the accusation had triggered a repressed memory, or something.

“Hey, Luz,” he said, his stubby legs preventing him from keeping up. “We need to talk.”

The teen looked confused for a second, before glancing at King. “… okay?”

King took a deep breath and placed his hands together. “I don’t think your friend likes me.”

Luz’s eyebrow raised in fake surprise. “Really?”

“Stop that,” King deadpanned. “He tried to kill me.”

“King, you haven’t seen what that guy did to him. I’m not saying that he was right, but he was just acting on instinct.”

“Oh, so it’s my fault then?” King said, his voice raised slightly.

“What?” Luz sputtered. “No!”

“Yeah right.”

Luz snapped, “Listen King. I have known Dipper for a very long time. And until he just disappeared to Gravity Falls, he was my best friend. I care about you and him equally, but you need to understand that human and demon brains work differently.”

“… what do you mean?”

“I told Eda about what I saw during the sleepover. She thinks that he has PTSD, and I think that that’s pretty accurate.”

King looked miffed. “Still doesn’t give him the right to try and kill me though.”

* * *

Eda grabbed her staff, tightening her grip on it. She stood her ground as the crazed murderer made his way towards her. “I’ve heard a lot about you,” she said, breaking the loud silence. “Nice to finally put a face to the name.”

Cain tilted his head and smirked, “I share a similar sentiment. You have somewhat of a reputation, Edalyn.”

“Oh really?” Eda asked. “And, please, tell me about this reputation of mine.”

“The most powerful witch on the Boiling Isles, sister of the emperor’s top assistant and master to a human witch.” He smiled, slowly walking in her direction.

“How did you get here?” Eda growled.

Cain smiled, “The boy. He opened the gateway for me.” Eda tilted her head slightly in confusion. “The banishment has a loophole,” Cain explained. “I can’t open the gateway but I can get through it. So when I realised that the Zodicai were in Gravity Falls, I only needed to lead one to the gateway. Sadly, I wasn’t able to kill him in time.”

Eda grimaced, “Why are you here? What do do you want?”

“Two things.” Cain held up two fingers as he closed in on the witch. “One, I need you out of the picture. And two, I need your portal.”

“Wait, you need my—” Eda was cut off as Cain grabbed her shoulders, sending a pulsing sensation throughout her body. She gasped, her knees threatening to buckle out from under her. Her head bowed, Owlbert falling to the floor. Cain smiled devilishly. Eda slowly raised her head, her grey hair having turned brown. She bared her teeth, growled and shoved Cain off her. Owlbert flew into her hand, her hair returning to it’s natural grey.

Cain yelped as he was hit in the face by Eda’s staff. He was knocking into the bench opposite Eda’s, the wood cracking and the seat collapsing. Eda looked around in shock, at least ten clones approaching and smiling.

Cain pulled himself up and and charged at the witch, his clones following.

Eda smirked, letting out a battle cry.

And then they fought.

* * *

Luz chapped on Blight Manor’s fancy front door, nervous. A low, high pitched creak came as it was opened. Luz glanced through the gap, as the person on the other side had neglected to open it fully. She caught a glimpse of bright golden eyes, the rest of the room in darkness.

“Who is it?” Amity said, her voice shaky and low.

“It’s just us Amity,” Luz assured. “What happened?”

“they’re gone… all of them.”

A look of concern crossed Luz’s face. She reached over and snaked her hand through the door. “Your family?”

The golden eyes bobbed up and down for a second, before closing. A muffled sob came from Amity’s mouth, before she pulled away.

“Amity, just come with me. We can take care of you until this all gets sorted out.”

Amity’s eyes opened again, her lip quivering.

“Okay.”

And with that, she took Luz’s hand.

* * *

Eda jabbed her staff out, striking one of the clones in the chest. She whipped around to fend off a few more, then quickly casted a shield spell to block a few more. Before she knew it, she was overwhelmed, stuck at the bottom of a dog pile.

Straining, Eda grabbed her staff, knocking all the clones off of her. She took a quick glance around, before jumping on and flying into the sunset.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heeeeeeey! Sorry it took so long to update, life got busy for a bit and fanfics kind of took a backseat. I hope you liked this chapter, but the next thing I’m working on is chapter 7 of The HIVE Mind, that one is shaping up to be a game-changer! The next chapter of this story should be good too, the already high tension in the Owl House is gonna skyrocket now that we’re past the halfway mark. Anyway, thanks for reading and goodbye.


	6. Collision Course

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gang is all here and there is a multiverse to save.

“I don’t know what happened to them…”

Luz sighed as she handed Amity a cup of warm apple blood that she’d heated up. Amity was a mess, her brown roots more visible than ever. Her hair had been let out of it’s bun, causing it to drape down her back and shoulders.

“I don’t know what happened to them,” she repeated, her voice shaky and low.

“Wherever they are I’m sure they’re fine,” Luz lied. “They probably just went to the shops or something.”

“They’ve been gone for two days.”

“Oh.” Luz bit her lip and draped a blanket over her friend. “You should probably get some rest.”

Amity, seemingly about to resist, decided better of it. “You’re probably right.” She lay down on the sofa and grabbed the blanket, snuggling into it.

“So I called the police,” Dipper said as he walked in. He’d discarded his leather jacket, and was dressed in a simple navy button-up shirt with cargo trousers. “Bunch of useless, ignorant—”

Luz cut him off. “We get it Dipper, not everyone’s as smart as you.’

“Well, I – uh…” Dipper stammered. “I never said that.”

“You didn – WHOA!”

As Luz spoke, Eda flew through the window, smashing it into a million pieces. She landed on top of Dipper, throwing them both to the floor.

“You bastard!” Eda shouted, getting up off the floor.

Dipper’s eyes were wide in shock, but before he could fully process what was happening, the cursed witch grabbed him by the throat and lifted him into the air.

“Eda, what are you doing?” Luz asked. She’d known Eda to be impulsive, but this was something else entirely.

“Your so-called friend brought Cain here. He opened the portal for him when he came through.”

Dipper was gasping for breath, clawing at Eda’s hands. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he croaked.

“He couldn’t open that gateway himself, so he used you.”

“Eda, if that’s the truth, then it seems like a genuine mistake. Put Dipper down,” Luz begged.

Eda glanced between the two teens; the girl she’d come to care so much about and the boy who Luz cared so much about. The apprentice and the mystery hunter, the two friends that had been broken apart by Weirdmageddon, only for it to inadvertently cause their reunion.

“Please.” Luz was pulling every trick in the book, from the purposefully calm and fragile tone of voice to the big, sweet puppy dog eyes (apparently she’d learned these tactics from a girl at school called Mabel).

Luz cared about the boy, and Eda cared about Luz. If she killed him now, Luz might never talk to her again. That was fine by her, all the kid did was annoy her. She wouldn’t miss that! She wouldn’t miss that tacky, cheesy comedy hour that she shared with King, would she?

Yes. She would, and if she went through with this she’d never be able to talk to Luz again.

Dipper’s efforts to free himself from Eda’s grasp were becoming increasingly more futile as he began to lose consciousness.

Eda sighed and let go.

Dipper dropped to the floor like a rock, immediately transitioning into a coughing fit. Luz ran over and patted his back as the coughing subsided.

“What,” Dipper said hoarsely. “The bloody _hell_ was that for?”

Eda, knowing full well that the question was more of an accusation in disguise, simply responded, “Your big-headedness nearly cost me my life, and possibly the whole multiverse.”

“Um, Eda?”

“Not now Luz,” Eda responded. “Did ‘ya really think you were smarter than him?”

“Eda?”

“No!” Dipper retorted. “I just—”

“Eda!” said Luz one final time.

“Oh for crying out loud, what?”

Luz slowly raised her arm and pointed at the two pointed tufts on top of Eda’s hair, which – upon closer inspection – were being rustled in the wind.

Inside.

“Don’t suppose you’re moving your hair with magic?” Amity asked, getting up and placing her mug down. She’d been silent this whole time, probably because she wasn’t sure what to say. She didn’t have much of a stake in this conflict, or in Dipper’s wellbeing. That was in sharp contrast to King, who would happily let Dipper die. If he wasn’t still fast asleep, of course.

“Not knowingly, no,” Eda replied, grabbing at the tufts and steadying them. That’s when she felt the wind. She turned towards the window she’d crashed through, seeing leaves being blown past it. She unbuttoned her cloak, allowing it to fall to the ground. The wind caused it to fly to the back of the room, where it landed on the sleeping King.

Dipper quietly unholstered his gun from its holster, the rickety wooden floorboards creaking as he shifted his weight from one foot to the other. He reached up to adjust his shirt collar and clicked the safety off.

Amity stood up, discarding her blanket. Her hair was billowing in the wind, the sound of Dipper cocking his gun echoing through the room.

Luz was the last to react; she’d never been very alert when it came to high-stress situations, and was usually not all that observant. She stood up and pulled a wad of glyphs out from her pockets. Rifling through it, she selected the fire one and held it up, ready for action.

Sparks erupted from the edges of the house’s door, Hooty’s screaming faintly audible over the noise. The door clattered to the floor, smoke rising from it.

All in sequence, three things happened.

One: Dipper realised who was at the door.

Two: Eda, Amity and Luz all shot fire spells into the smoke.

And three: a vaguely familiar blue shield blocked the attacks.

The fire fizzled out as it hit the bubble, which disappeared a moment later. When the smoke cleared, Dipper wasn’t surprised.

“Mabel?”

Mabel and three others entered the room, each bearing expressions of shock, joy, and disbelief all at the same time. The Stans were easily recognisable, but the third was a woman who seemed to resemble Eda.

“DIPPER!” Mabel shouted, running towards her brother. She wore a black pair of cargo pants with a similarly dull-coloured sweater over top. Suddenly, she stopped in her tracks. “Luz?”

Before Luz could get a chance to respond, Stan stepped forward with a look of bewilderment on his face.

“Marilyn?”

Dipper glanced at Eda. _Her name’s not Marilyn,_ he thought. _But how does Stan know – oh. OH._

Now it was Eda’s turn to respond. “Lilly?” she said, then took a double take at the Stans. “Homer?”

Ford looked at Stan in confusion, to which Stan simply mouthed the words ‘long story.’

“Amity?” Lilith asked as Ford grabbed her staff off of her. She had clearly been the one to cast the energy field.

Her temporal lapse of shock gone, Mabel ran up to her brother and hugged him, as the adults continued the never-ending game of ‘shout someone’s name in surprise then wait until it’s your turn again’ that was honestly quite entertaining to watch.

“Alright enough!” Ford shouted. He was the only person (bar the twins) not taking part. “This is clearly a pointless endeavour, so let’s just start by explaining everything, right _Stanley?”_

Sighing, Stan spoke up. “Uhm, hey so… uh, Marilyn, I never thought I’d see ‘ya again.”

“Just call me Eda, Homer.”

“Yeah, well that’s not my name.”

“What?” Eda questioned, her eyebrows flying up to her hairline. “You said your name was Homer Simpson!”

What followed this comment was Ford’s face turning in on itself as he tried to stifle a laugh. Of course the fake name Stan gave was Homer Simpson.

“Yeah, well, I lied. My name’s Stan, Stan Pines. Those gremlins over there are my great-niece and nephew.”

“So how do you two know each other?” Luz asked, curious.

“We got married in Vegas.”

Mabel (who had given up on trying to hug Dipper after he made her get off) squealed in delight. “OHMYGOD! You’re the lady! You know, with the crossbow?”

Eda looked at Stan in disgust. “You still have that dusty old thing?”

“Wait,” Ford said. “Did you ever get a divorce?”

The response was… well, it was exactly what he expected. Both Eda and Stan’s faces contorted into ones of sudden realisation, then shock, then to disgust.

“Waaaaaiiiiiiittt…” Mabel said, a revelation dawning on her. “If you two—”

“No!” Stan said, knowing what she was thinking.

“Never got a divorce…”

“No!”

“Then that means — eeeeeeeeeeee!” Mabel jumped at Eda and yelled, “Graunty Eda!”

The witch in question just sighed in exasperation.

* * *

“So what you’re saying,” Ford said, still midway through processing all the information. “That you had a vision of an apocalyptic future didn’t even think to wait and talk to us about it?”

Dipper winced slightly. “Well, you were high on morphine in the hospital and Stan was never going to leave you. Wendy had already went home and Soos… he’s great and all, but he wouldn’t have been the best person to go to.”

“He would’ve been better than no one!” Stan snapped. “Also, why didn’t ‘ya just talk to Mabel?”

Dipper sighed, “We had a fight just before I left. I felt like I had to do it myself.”

“Dipper, the last time you and Mabel were at odds the world almost ended,” Ford said, his tone wavering as he became more infuriated. “And now it’s the whole multiverse!”

“Ford, calm down.” Stan patted his twin on the back and glared at Dipper. “Kid, all of this could’ve been avoided if you’d just waited and told us.”

“No.” Dipper’s tone was flat, defeated. “You can’t stop it. It’s the future.”

“That’s not how it works Dipper,” Ford sneered. “You’ve travelled through time before, you know that you can change it.”

“When me and Mabel went to the past – both times mind you – every action we made ended up causing the future,” Dipper argued. “We taught Soos the vending machine trick so he could teach it to us so we could teach it to him, it just goes on.”

“He’s right.”

The three looked up to see Lilith standing in the doorway, listening in.

“The future is definite. There is no changing it, no altering it. The universe already know the choices we will make, we’re just here to see how and why we make them.”

“Well I don’t buy that,” Ford stated bluntly. “Sounds like a bunch of cultish nonsense. We have free will, no matter what bloody god you believe in.”

“You don’t have to buy it.” Lilith sneered. “You’ll see.”

* * *

A few hours later, after all the kids had gone to bed, Stan lay on the Owl House’s couch. He tossed and turned restlessly, but he couldn’t get to sleep. He sighed. Dipper was reckless. That dream must’ve petrified him, because suddenly running away to another dimension with no plan didn’t seem like him. He always needed a plan. He grumbled and got up. Maybe if he just stretched his legs a bit he could get to sleep easier. He began walking around the house, but stopped when he saw Eda. She was standing at her bedroom door with a bottle of alcohol in her hand. Reaching up, she chugged the liquid down and held it out to Stan.

“Wanna come in?” she said.

Stan smirked, taking the bottle and finishing it off. “Now why’d I wanna do that?”

“Maybe we could share another bottle, I’m not exactly running short.” Eda glanced around the hall for a moment, before returning her gaze to her husband. “We could maybe share something else whilst we’re at it,” she said, foxily.

“Ha,” Stan chuckled. “Y’had me at the offer ‘a beer.”

Eda tilted her head and opened the door, walking in. She smiled at Stan. All he did in response was grin, walk through and close the door behind him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello there all my brilliant readers! I know it’s been a while since I updated this fic, but that’s just because I finally found the motivation to get on with The HIVE Mind and I’ve also been brainstorming some ideas for what comes after that, as the After the End series really needs wrapping up. This series will probably be finished before then, as it’s just ten chapters per part. Anyway, thank you for reading!


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